UK based Lloyd’s Register (LR) is to use generative AI for permitting capabilities to bridge the gap between terrestrial and maritime nuclear applications. The capabilities, built on Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, are designed to enhance the regulatory process for nuclear technology and will be used by LR to advance the deployment of nuclear in maritime applications.
Azure works by analysing historic nuclear licensing data and allows licensing engineers to draft new permitting documents more quickly, for review and refinement. It can also quickly search for regulations, precedents, and other valuable information buried in large regulatory datasets. The technology enables a faster and more cost-effective pathway through regulation.
LR’s Deputy Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, Jeff Scott, played a key role in engaging with Microsoft to explore AI’s potential in maritime nuclear regulation. “Regulations shouldn’t be a roadblock to innovation – they should be a launchpad,” he noted. “By teaming up with Microsoft, we’re using AI to cut through the red tape and fast-track the future of nuclear in maritime. It’s an exciting step toward making clean energy a reality on the water.”
Mark Tipping, LR’s Global Offshore Power To X Director leads on nuclear technology. “We have a large data source from decades of regulatory applications which these AI capabilities can interrogate swiftly to identify good practice and lessons learned,” he said. “Together, we’re tackling one of the biggest challenges in deploying nuclear technology, which is navigating complex, slow, and costly licensing processes.”
He added: “Collaborating with Microsoft provides us with an excellent opportunity to combine two very different areas of expertise, their AI capabilities and our vast history and knowledge of maritime and nuclear safety.”
Darryl Willis, Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Energy & Resources Industry, said the collaboration “underscores our commitment to harnessing the power of AI to drive innovation and advance sustainability across sectors”. He added: “By combining our AI expertise with Lloyd’s Register’s expertise in maritime and nuclear safety, we are paving the way to ease regulatory barriers and make sustainability more attainable for all industries.”
In January 2024, LR signed a memorandum of understanding with international shipping company Zodiac Maritime, and South Korea’s HD KSOE and Kepco E&C to develop a project for the research and development of nuclear-propelled ship designs, including bulk carriers and container ships.
LR published a report in July 2024 which argued that the rise of small modular reactors points to a step change for nuclear applications in shipping if regulatory hurdles can be overcome. Nuclear power could transform the maritime industry with emissions-free shipping, whilst extending the life cycle of vessels and removing the uncertainty of fuel and refuelling infrastructure development, but regulation and safety considerations must be addressed for its widespread commercial adoption, the report said.
The following months, Danish shipping group AP Moller-Maersk agreed to collaborate with LR and UK-based nuclear start-up Core Power, in a regulatory assessment study of possible nuclear-powered container shipping in Europe. The study will look at the regulatory feasibility and frameworks that would need to be established for a nuclear container ship using a fourth-generation reactor to undertake cargo operations at a port in Europe.
